TriPython July 2017 Meeting: Just What Is A Quality Engineer?

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A great plurality of companies today, who deal with the delivery of software or providing software services should have a team responsible for checking the quality of their products before they get into their customers’ hands. This team, far too often, is comprised of a single person, usually labeled with the term “QA”, and is responsible for making sure that all known issues with the product are verified and that some level of testing is performed before it can be ‘shipped’ to customers. Not everyone really knows what happens during this phase, but it is well-known that someone, somehow, installs, configures and ‘tests’ all the facets and features of a product before it ‘goes out the door’.
The stereotype is that somewhere in the building where you work, there is at least one person, “not suitable” to be a developer, who is relegated to pushing buttons and clicking elements on web ui elements to make sure that things work as advertised. These are the ‘button pushers’. If you have some of this species inhabiting your work environment, good for you. But if you really want to deliver quality with your products, then what you need is a Quality Engineer, a rare hybrid species that merges software development, forensics, DEVOPS and creativity skills into a super being. Og Maciel presents. Og is a Senior Manager of Quality Engineering for the Red Hat Satellite team. He has spent the last 5+ years building a team of black belt quality engineers responsible for the automation of complex systems and delivering quality products through the use of continuous delivery of processes. He is also a podcaster, a dad, and an avid reader. Extemporaneous "lightning talks" of 5-10 minute duration are also welcome and don't need to be pre-announced. Lightning talks are for you to "show and tell" something you've learned about Python recently, no matter how small. We all use Python, therefore, we are always learning something new about Python that we can tell others. Plenty of free parking is available in the RENCI parking deck. The meeting will be followed by our usual after-meeting at a nearby tavern for food and beverage. Come join us for a fun and informative evening.